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windowpaning wet doughs

June 3, 2008 - 7:12am

Windischgirl

windowpaning wet doughs

Are there any secrets to windowpaning a wet dough, like a ciabatta? I am making Pierre Nury's Light Rye today and have nice gluten development but due to the stickiness of the dough it was difficult to windowpane in the typical way (stretching the pancake between one's fingers). I looked like a dog trying to manage bubble gum!

I ended up lifting the head of the KAM, and using a lightly floured hand to gently pull dough off of the dough hook and getting a nice windowpane (my strudel-making Oma would have been proud!) It was unorthodox but worked...but is there a more elegant manner?

BTW, hubby came home with a gently-used digital postal scale yesterday. On the down side, it only measures in ounces and tenths of ounces (no grams), and the zeroing button sticks. On the plus side, I can estimate how much it might cost to send overproofed dough (a gas bag?) to a politician ;-)

OK, this may be very unorthodox... and maybe it's because of the flour I use, but I actually find the Nury's Light Rye better if it is under kneeded. So, I don't windowpane this dough at all. With the autolyse, the extra time in the fridge, etc, it doesn't really risk bad gluten developement, so I under kneed it on purpose. I mean, I KNEED it, but I don't test it. When it is smooth and beautiful looking, that's enough for me.

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